Isabella Schoning ’16 Awarded Gilman Scholarship for Study in Russia

Isabella Schoning ’16 has been chosen as a recipient of the Gilman International Scholarship Program award. The award will fund Schoning’s fall 2014 semester abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia, through the Bard-Smolny Program.

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program offers grants for U.S. citizen undergraduate students to pursue academic studies or credit-bearing, career-oriented internships abroad. Such international exchange is intended to better prepare U.S. students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world.

Schoning, a physics and Russian studies double major, works as a tour guide for the Hamilton College Admissions Office, teaches English to refugees in Utica through Project SHINE, and is a member of the women’s varsity tennis team. She is a Dean’s List student and the 2014 recipient of the Scholar Athlete Award.

The Gilman International Scholarship Program highlights the importance of international study for undergraduates given the increasing global interdependence of economies and cultures in today’s world. As such, it seeks to eliminate one of the largest barriers for many study abroad candidates: the financial burden. The program also encourages students to pursue their studies or internships in areas of the world not conventionally selected as study abroad destinations (i.e. outside of Western Europe, Australia or New Zealand). Award recipients must complete a follow-up project that promotes international education to their universities or their home communities.

For fall 2014, the Gilman Scholarship Program received over 2,700 applications and more than 800 students were offered awards to study abroad and participate in international internships this fall or academic year.

The Gilman International Scholarship Program was established through the International Opportunity Act of 2000 and is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Schoning is the daughter of Susan Moreno and Jens Schoning of Woodbury, N.J., and a graduate of Woodbury High School.